Mike Kolean thought he'd grow up to a be a high school coach. That didn't exactly happen. By the time the Park Township native graduated from Grand Valley State University in 1972, "there were no coaching jobs," he said.

He probably could have found a great job elsewhere or picked up a corporate marketing job, but "I like the area, the values, the churches, what the communities' bring," he said. And he knew himself well enough to know where his passion for work lay.

A freshman starter for baseball, basketball and football at West Ottawa High School before graduating in 1968, Kolean's name popped up in dozens of stories from the old Evening Sentinel, including a featured role in a muddy football win over Zeeland High. As a teen, he worked for recreation programs in Holland and Park townships.

Mike Kolean found a job that fits like a glove — Zeeland Recreation director. In between, he worked briefly as an assistant assessor for the City of Holland. Then the City of Zeeland came knocking, with a job that paid $5,000 a year under a U.S. grant program, the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA). His task — expand summer rec to a year-round program. At the time, kids were bussed to Hudsonville to swim. Recreation had to be self-supporting. The school district provided an office and a typewriter.

Along the way, he said, he shared a vision for the program with his boss, David VanGinhoven, Zeeland Public School's former assistant superintendent of business.

"He knew the benefit of recreation and what it did for the health of the community," Kolean said. "I had a hard time when he did his retirement speech. He's just a class act."

Next to his family, Kolean loves the world of recreation. He credits his wife, Jann Boers Kolean, for being "a real rock through all this. Recreation people don't work a 9-to-5 job. I'm hands on ... I like to control what I can control."

Which meant he was in the ball fields or in gyms, with his wife, Jann, and the couples' three kids, Katie, Jon and Sara, nearby. He got to know players names and developed a loyal group of parent volunteers. He developed kickball, dodge ball and other leagues, using T-shirts instead of trophies.

He figured out a way to use pools and gyms when the schools weren't using them. He started adult leagues, like women's volleyball. In 1978, the federal grant ran out, but the city hired him full time. In 1982, Zeeland Public Schools, a 96-square-mile district, asked to take over the recreation. A decade later, voters approved the first-ever recreation millage. Even then, only two other people were working full-time with Kolean.

Classes helped many adults complete high school degrees, he said. Zeeland Recreation offers a wide variety of classes, though not geared to GEDs anymore: Etiquette for children and adults to fine art classes and euchre games; computer and digital camera tutoring to blood pressure screenings to swim and yoga lessons.

Page 2 of 2 - "This program here isn't all balls and bats," Kolean said. "Dance is the largest program we run."

This year, Kolean presented a master plan for Zeeland Area Recreation to the city of Zeeland and the eight other communities covered by the school district. The document can be used by each community to apply for grants and expand programming even more.

Father of three, grandfather of 10 and married to Jann for more than 40 years, Kolean, at 64, could probably retire. Say the word and he bursts out laughing.

"Retire? I'm having the time of my life," he said, leaning back in his office chair. "It's been a great journey. It's just been a great place to work."

From the early days of running a self supporting program, he's developed a mindset.

"The sky's the limit ... If you're not hungry, then you're not right for this community any more."